Eijiro Kirishima: Last time on "Building a Hero!", me, Mina, and Pony got to meet the infamous vigilante Kamen Rider Build, Sento Kiryu!

Mina Ashido: Not totally on purpose, mind you, we were just following the address on the card, since we got a feeling that Midoriya knew something about him.

Pony Tsunotori: But it got even crazier when it turned out that the Number One Hero All Might is Mr. Kiryu's ally! And even Ryuga Banjo, who turns out not to be as much of a bad guy as we thought!

Sawa Takigawa: And I'm getting the biggest scoop of my life!

Sento Kiryu: Hey hey hey, remember you can't tell everyone about everything. There's a lot of things we need to keep secret.

All Might: Hahaha! That's right! For instance, it would be in poor taste if the Number One Hero was seen openly gallivanting with a vigilante, even one as necessary as Build!

ST: Right, right, of course.

Izuku Midoriya: And the organization behind the Smash incidents kidnapped Mr. Banjo's girlfriend Kasumi and turned her into one. But because of her weak constitution, she died the moment she changed, and when Build extracted the Smash essence, nothing was left.

Ryuga Banjo: Well gee, thanks for putting it like that.

IM: Sorry Mr. Banjo...

Misora Isurugi: But it's not all gloom and doom. When I purified her Smash essence, it turned into the Dragon Fullbottle, a symbol of her love for Ryuga.

SK: And thanks to her and her dying words, we've at last found a new lead. Nabeshima, the man who orchestrated Banjo's arrest and kidnapping for experimentation. Will we discover what this organization is? What is Nabeshima's role in all of this? Let's find out in this chapter of "Building a Hero!"

"Alright, let's all review this one more time, because someone can't seem to grasp the whole thing in spite of being the one involved," Sento said, staring directly at Ryuga. Sento was standing in front of the glass board, which was covered in a complex flow chart. Ryuga, Izuku, Eijiro, Mina, and Pony were sitting on the ground in front of him, while Misora was sitting on the couch, exasperated by the fact that this explanation had been going on for hours now, and Sawa was off at the corner, painting her toenails.

"First things first, Banjo was framed at Breaker Box's agency for match rigging. While this might seem unrelated, it's the first step in the chain. Then, after weeks of unemployment, a man named Nabeshima contacted Banjo's girlfriend Kasumi about a job opening as an assistant to Takumi Katsuragi, a scientist from the Institute. Banjo accepted, only to find Katsuragi murdered in his apartment, where he was immediately arrested, in spite of very little evidence proving it was him. And after a few months at the facility he was kept at, Banjo was sedated and kidnapped by Nabeshima, and experimented on by the organization behind all the Smash incidents, meaning that Nabeshima is our best lead to finding out just what this organization is, and their ultimate goal. If we find out more about them, we'll find out why they took Banjo, Midoriya, and I to be experimented on, and why our memories, or more precisely, mine, are missing. Now, is that clear?" Sento said, pointing to each diagram drawn on the board as he went over it.

"Hm... I think I finally got it!" Ryuga said, as the others sighed a breath of relief.

"Not like we're really any closer, though," Misora said, shaking her head. She got up, showing the papers and photos Sawa had brought to the Build Shop. "I tried the contact information we had gotten, and it turned out to be bogus. Both the address and phone number were fake."

"Wait, what!?" Sawa said, as she finally finished her last toenail. She sprung up, and grabbed the papers. "But I went through so much trouble to get these!" she said, falling to her knees. Misora stared at the despairing Sawa, and sighed. "Well, I think I can fix that for you, but you're gonna have to pay me."

"Huh?" everyone, excluding Sento and Izuku, said, staring at her with confusion.

"Dad!" Misora called, as Souichi came down the stairs. "It's idol time," she added, deadpan.

"Of course!" Souichi said. In a flash, he grabbed a portable changing stall and a set of clothes from behind the TV. Misora stepped into it, and pulled it up. Clothes flew out from above it, with Sawa covering Ryuga's eyes, Mina covering Eijiro's, and Pony covering Izuku's, while Sento just looked the other way. As this happened, Souichi set up a tripod with a camera pointing where Misora was standing, propped up a cute backboard on the opposite side, and pulled down the changing stall.

To everyone's astonishment besides Souichi and Sento, Misora had instantly changed from her cute pajamas to a checkerboard-shirt, with a overall decorated in buttons and stickers, a bunny-ear headband that hung around her neck like a big bow, fuzzy wristbands, a pair of oversized headphones, and a big top-hat bow holding up her ponytail.

"Hi! It's me, Miitan!" Misora said, with an amazing amount of energy that the group hadn't seen before from her. A giant goofy grin was plastered on her face, which she immediately squished with her fingers. On the computer, it showed her surrounded by a few display boxes.

"Misora's a popular net idol, y'know," Souichi said, with an air of overinflated pride. "She's got thousands of fans across Touto, Seito, and even Hokuto! All of them help Misora gather info, you see. Idol fans can be crazy like that."

"A net idol?" Ryuga said, mildly intrigued as he walked towards the camera, though he was pulled away by the others, preventing him from ruining the shot.

"I can't believe it! She's the request-making idol that no one ever sees in person! Miitan!" Sawa said, pulling out her camera and snapped a few pictures of her. "Gotta get some glamour shots for the future..."

"Misora's Miitan?" Eijiro said, confused. "I didn't realize that... She's so... different in person."

"Yea, honestly I kinda wanted to meet her myself, but I didn't think she'd be so... tired sounding most of the time," Mina said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yea, even now I still can't believe it," Izuku said, grimacing a little bit. "Even though I've seen this dozens of times now..."

"Do you think she'll sign an autograph for me? My little sister loves Miitan," Pony said, watching as Misora danced in front of the camera.

"Now for today's request! Ta-da!" Misora cheered, as she motioned to the side with both her hands. On the screen, a picture of Nabeshima popped up. "Can you guys look this man up for me? A fan of mine sent me this, saying that their life depended on finding him! So could you do the same for me? Please?"

Misora spun around so quickly that the camera didn't catch it, but she had a small eyedropper in her hand that she squirted into her eyes. She walked up to the camera, "tears" in her eyes. "Pretty please?"

"How did she do that?" Eijiro asked, impressed with how fast she did it.

"Practice," Sento muttered, when the computer's notifications began beeping like crazy.

"Oh? Looks like one of you saw one of those scaaaaary Smashes over at a park! To "MiitanLove" who sent the info, thaaaank you! Kisskiss!" Misora said, as she shaped her hands into a heart.

"And that's my cue to go," Sento said, grabbing his Build Driver and his overcoat. "I'll be back soon."

"Oh, I'll come with you! I need to get some shots of you as Build!" Sawa said, as she finished taking her last picture of Misora and followed Sento.

"Wait, what?" Ryuga said, walking after the two. "What about finding Nabeshima? Don't you remember what you said? About getting your memories back?"

"This and that are two different things," Sento said, shrugging. "Besides, this is a more pressing matter."

"How is this Smash attack more pressing than anything we're going through!? What's really more important, saving ungrateful strangers as Build or your memories!?" Ryuga asked. Sento paused, but said his answer without hesitation.

"That's easy, Build."

At the Touto Capital, Gentoku stood at the side in the conference room, watching his father engage in the monthly meeting between the three countries' Prime Ministers. It was all pointless, really. The other two Prime Ministers were the most stubborn and bullheaded people Gentoku had ever seen.

"Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Skywall Incident," Touto Prime Minister Taizan Himuro said, pushing his glasses up as he looked at his fellow Prime Ministers. "Are things going well in Hokuto?"

"Oh, the childcare programs and agricultural projects are finally bearing dividends, Himuro," Hokuto Prime Minister Tajimi Yoshiko replied, giving him a grin that was a bit too wide to be genuine. She rapped her talon-like fingers on her chair. "Though I have the feeling that our Seito friend might ridicule me for focusing on internal affairs."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Seito Prime Minister Mido Masakuni answered, chuckling a bit, and flashed a smirk that showed off his fang-like teeth. "While my focus is on sending our young adults across the world in order to support our economy, I would never insult how you two handle your countries, even if I disagree with your approaches."

"So I take it that neither of you want to take a unified approach as a country, then..." Prime Minister Himuro said, seeing the tense postures his fellow leaders had.

"Not for the foreseeable future, I think," Prime Minister Masakuni answered, bluntly. "Not with so much vital infrastructure still divided thanks to the Skywall."

"I have to agree," Prime Minister Yoshiko added. "As long as that wall's there..."

"Fair enough," Prime Minister Himuro said, looking to the side, almost grumbling. "Then I'll see you all at next month's scheduled meeting."

As soon as Prime Minister Himuro finished his sentence, the holograms of Masakuni and Yoshiko disappeared, leaving him and Gentoku alone in the room. Himuro looked at the empty chairs in the conference room, and sighed. After all these years, these two have not budged one bit on their stances.

As he walked out of the conference room, Gentoku followed him to the stairs of the second floor. "I need to tell you something. I've been hearing rumors that Hokuto is assembling an army that's comparable to Seito's, and-"

"Not this again," Himuro said, pinching his forehead. "Over and over, you keep suggesting that the other countries are planning to wage war, but there's no proof for that."

"That might be, but I still think we should build our army-"

"No need. Touto only needs enough strength to defend ourselves. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But father-"

"I thought I asked that when we're here, that you call me Prime Minister," Himuro said, sternly. "More importantly, have you found out anything about the Kamen Rider?"

"... No."

"Hm... troubling. It's been almost six months since he publicly appeared, and over that time he's been causing unrest within our civilians," Himuro said, stopping to take a breath from walking up the stairs. "He needs to be captured so that peace can return in Touto."

"Right, of course," Gentoku said, though he stroked his beard a bit more thoughtfully. "Though I think we could use that technology of his to-"

"Don't even think of such a thing, Gentoku," Himuro said, cutting him off. "Having that sort of technology is bad enough in the hands of one man, we shouldn't be attempting to arm more with it."

"Yes, yes, that would be bad," Gentoku said, agreeing with his father. But as his father went into his office and closed the door, he muttered to himself, "Bad for Seito and Hokuto, maybe..."

This afternoon had gone south for Kouta. He had been at the park with his mom as an award for passing yesterday's math test, when some weird cloud bullet thing hit his mom and turned her into one of those Smashes he's heard about on the news. She was chasing him mindlessly, flying and shooting weird pellets at him.

"Mom! Stop!" he pleaded as he ran, before stumbling onto the ground. Before his mom could attack him again, Kamen Rider Build rushed by him, and stopped her attack with a powerful punch.

"Huh, a Smash capable of flight... guess we'll call you the Flying Smash to make it simple, since you're a bit... nondescript," the Kamen Rider said, looking at Kouta's mom. It was true. Her Smash form had a weird airplane-shaped head, but her arms were flat and wide, with weird silver claws on the ends. "Go under the bridge, kiddo, I'll make sure your mom will be alright."

Kouta nodded, and ran towards the bridge and behind a pillar. He was soon joined by Sawa with a camera hanging around her neck biking at a breakneck speed. "Finally! I made it!" she muttered, nearly out of breath, but she composed herself quickly enough to set up a tripod camera and started to record.

"There's no telling what formulas and equations are going on in Build's head right now!" she said to the camera, as Build and the Flying Smash exchanged punches. The Flying Smash pulled away, and started to fly off to get some distance between them.

"Oh, don't think you can get away that easily! Let's you escape a strong suction!" Build said, pulling out the Rabbit and Tank Fullbottles and replacing them with the Gorilla and Vacuum ones. "Gorilla! Vacuum! Are you ready?"

"Build up!" Build announced, as the red of his armor was replaced with brown, and the blue replaced with teal. "GorillaVacuum! What an unexpected combination!" Sawa said, while Kouta watched with amazement. "But will he say his catchphrase!? Will he!?"

"I've found the-" Build began to say, but was interrupted by Sawa.

"The winning formula!"

Build sighed, seemingly a bit exasperated by Sawa's excitement. He shook off that exasperation, and started to pull in the Flying Smash using the Long Range Cleaner.

"Look at all that sucking!" Sawa said, as the air around them tugged at them a bit towards Build. "He's using the vacuum's sucking power to keep the Smash from flying away and to reel it in!"

As soon as the Flying Smash was within his range, Build jumped towards it, and punched it with the powerful Muscle Glove. "And he hits it with a gigantic punch! What an attack! That's Build for you! He'll find a way to beat those Smashes without a-"

"Shut up!" Build yelled, quieting Sawa. "You're distracting me! Just sit back and watch-"

As if to prove his point, the Flying Smash got up from being downed by Build's punch, and struck him right in the face with its giant talons, knocking him onto the ground.

"Sorry!" Sawa said, apologetically.

"Ugh, this is terrible," he muttered, as he took out the Diamond Fullbottle and shook it, replacing the Vacuum Fullbottle in his Build Driver. "Gorilla! Diamond! Best Match! Are you ready?"

As the Flying Smash prepared for its next attack, Build cranked the Build Driver's handle furiously, as a runner with a clear copy of the Gorilla Halfbody formed in front of him and a runner with the light blue Diamond Halfbody formed behind him. "Build up!" he announced, as the runners slammed onto him.

"The Shining Destroyer! GorillaMond! Yeahhh!"

As soon as his transformation was complete, he began cranking the Build Driver again, prepping for a finishing attack as the Flying Smash took off into the air, firing pellets at him. "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"

Build stuck his left hand out, turning all the pellets that were being fired at him into a giant diamond wall, before punching it with his right, sending diamond fragments into it. As the diamonds pelted the Flying Smash, it exploded, making it fall to the ground weakened.

"He did it! Nice! Turn this way, I need- Oh no!" Sawa said, looking at her camera. "One of the diamond shards broke my lens! Noooo!"

Build sighed, and took out an empty bottle to extract the Flying Smash's essence. "So obnoxious..." he muttered, as Kouta's mom returned to normal.

"Mom!" Kouta yelled, running from behind the pillar. "Mom! You're alright!"

"Kouta..." his mother said, hugging her son who embraced her, confused. "What... what happened?"

"You were turned into a scary monster," Kouta said, sniffling. "But the Kamen Rider saved you!"

"I'm sorry," she said, assuring her son, as she glanced at Build, who, oddly enough, seemed to be content behind his helmet.

"Hey, it's the Kamen Rider!" someone said, up above on the bridge.

"Someone call a pro hero! The police! Even a Guardian troop! Something!"

"He must've been attacking that family!"

"Nonono no! That's far from the truth! You don't know what you're talking about!" Sawa said, coming out from under the bridge. "He just saved them! Okay, so he might have beaten her up a bit to change her back, but-"

"Oh, so he's a woman-beater now!?"

"And when I thought the Kamen Rider couldn't get any worse!"

"Wait, you're taking it the wrong way, he has to beat up people to-"

"Please stop digging this hole deeper for me," Build said, as he inserted the Lion Fullbottle into his smartphone, changing it into a motorcycle, and drove off before anyone else could say anything more.

"So those people saw what you did, and still thought you were up to no good?" Ryuga said, as Sento returned to working on the Gatling Fullbottle's weapon. Izuku was sharing his Secret Rider Files with Eijiro, Mina, and Pony, and Misora was in the Purification Chamber working on the new Fullbottle. "See? We should be focusing on the organization! When we stop them, all our problems will be solved!"

"I dunno, Mr. Banjo," Izuku said, looking up at him. "Even with Misora's help, we still haven't gotten any closer to finding Mr. Nabeshima. And even if we find out more about them, I don't think our problems would be gone..."

"Yea, don't remind me-" Ryuga muttered, when the Purification Chamber's ding echoed throughout the Build Shop, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Today's prize! It's done!" Sento said, excitedly as a tuft of hair popped up from his head. He pulled out the orange Fullbottle, which was shaped in the form of a hawk. "So it's a hawk this time? Amazing!"

As Sento marveled at the new Fullbottle, the Purification Chamber's door moved and Misora popped out. "Tired... Sleepy... don't wake me up, or I'll cut you all," she muttered, walking past everyone and into her room. She closed the door, and immediately snoring could be heard behind it.

"Tch, would love to show that side to Miitan's fans..." Ryuga said, squinting at the door, while Sento walked to the side of the Chamber. Everyone looked at him, as he inserted the Hawk Fullbottle and the Pyramid Fullbottle onto a strange device in the wall.

"What's that thing?" Ryuga asked, looking at Sento, who seemed a bit disappointed.

"It's for Best Matches," a voice said, causing everyone but Sento to turn. Souichi had come down the stairs, as he attempted to make a dramatic entrance.

"I'll say it again... it's for Best Matches."

"That... means nothing to me," Ryuga said, his face blank. "Also, I... don't think that explains anything, either."

"Oh right! We haven't explained what Best Matches are!" Izuku said, butting in before Souichi could say anything else. "You see, the Fullbottles have different compatibilities and power! Like Rabbit and Tank, for example!"

Izuku ran towards the workbench, and grabbed the aforementioned Fullbottles, and headed towards the device in the wall. "When these compatible combinations are set, this device lights up and shows us what it is! We call them Best Matches!"

"Steal my thunder, why don't you?" Souichi said, smirking. "Nah, he's on point. What I can tell you also, is that when all the Best Matches are found, something crazy's supposed to happen. What that thing is, we don't know yet. And it's not easy, either."

"Exactly," Sento said, picking up the Build Driver. "Which is why we need this. That device over there is useful for finding Best Matches here, but the Build Driver's the real star. Initially, it was made just to transform into Build, but I modified it to hunt down the Best Matches while in the field!"

As Sento said that, Izuku took the Rabbit and Tank Fullbottles, and inserted them into the Build Driver, making it announce "Rabbit! Tank! Best Match!"

"So? What do you think? How you like my modifications?" Sento said, smirking smugly.

"It's amazing!" Pony said, stars in her eyes.

"Yea, it's incredible you're able to come up with all this!" Mina added, and made a thumbs-up.

"Well, I think I could just guess these Best Matches," Ryuga said, taking the Build Driver out of Sento's hands. "Can't be too hard."

"That's a bold thing to say, musclehead," Sento said, snickering, as the others looked at each with a bit of doubt. "Then why don't you try it? How about you find the Best Match for Gatling?"

He grabbed the Gatling Fullbottle's weapon from the workbench, which was still incomplete. "This is the Gatling Halfbody's weapon, the... somethingatlinger. I've been stuck on making this, since I want it to reflect the Best Match. But I doubt that you would-"

"Hawk! Gatling! Best Match!"

"No way!" Sento said, turning around to see Ryuga inserting the new Hawk Fullbottle and the Gatling Fullbottle into the Build Driver. It was clear as day, the Build Driver had reacted to a Best Match. That Ryuga found.

"Bravo!" Souichi said, clearly impressed.

"Incredible!" Pony added, clapping her hands.

"How'd you like them apples! That's my sixth sense right there!" Ryuga said, smirking smugly just like Sento was earlier. However, Sento, after his brief shock, started to think of names for the weapon.

"Hawtlinger... no, Hawkgatlinger is a better name, let's use that," he muttered, as he returned to working on the Gatling Fullbottle's weapon, now with a renewed sense of what to make it.

"How did you know what the Best Match would be?" Souichi said, as he, Izuku, and Eijiro gathered around him.

"Yea, that was amazing! First try, and bam! Best Match!" Eijiro said.

"We've been doing this for months now, and we only found four Best Matches! Not to mention that the Hawk Fullbottle was created today!" Izuku said, racking his brain to figure out how Ryuga could've gotten the Best Match.

"Well, if you ask me, to get a Best Match, all you need is an animal and a machine!" Ryuga said, smiling triumphantly.

"There's no way that kind of childish logic could be right!" Sento said, picking his head up from the workbench. "I've been trying use quantum mechanics to find Best Matches and-"

All the chatter was cut short by a thrown paint scraper that landed blade first into the Purification Chamber's door crack. Everyone turned, and saw a tired, but menacing, Misora, who rung her sleeping mask in her hands.

"I'll cut you if you keep this noise up," she said, making a sinister smile. Everyone stared at her, before giving a very frightened "Sorry." Misora nodded, and went back to her room, and resumed snoring.

"So do you think you can find any more Best Matches?" Mina said, eyeing the other Fullbottles on the workbench.

"Sure, let me see what we got," Ryuga said, as he picked up the Deer Fullbottle. He glanced at the other Fullbottles, and picked up the Pyramid Fullbottle. Sento shook his head as he began to draw the Hawk attachments to the Hawkgatlinger.

"Well, you might have gotten lucky with Hawk and Gatling, but I doubt that you'll get it-"

"Deer! Pyramid! Best Match!"

"Again!?"

"Wow! So that's my Best Match?" Pony said. "Seems real regal!"

"I have to write this down," Izuku muttered, grabbing the Secret Rider Files and started to jot down notes.

"Funny, I wouldn't think that deer and pyramids would be related at all," Eijiro said, scratching his head.

"Yea, what's up with some of these Best Matches? I mean, why would cute little rabbits be paired up with heavy artillery?" Mina asked.

"Eh, it's not like we know, either," Souichi said, leaning against one of the metal pillars. "The Fullbottles are a mystery, after all."

"One that I intend on solving," Sento said, as he looked over his sketches for the Hawkgatlinger one more time. "Hm... wonder what the attack announcement I should give this..."

"Attack announcement? Oh, you mean like what the Build Driver makes?" Mina said, walking over to look at the Hawgatlinger sketches.

"Yea, it helps let me know when I've gathered enough energy to weaken Smashes enough to extract their essence," Sento said.

"So they're like some of those super moves that pro heroes have?" Eijiro asked.

"I... guess, I never really thought about it like that."

"So that must mean you've got some names for them!" Pony said, joining in. "Like All Might's Smashes!"

"I... don't, but maybe I should... it would make it a little more impressive, not to mention that it might make people more accepting of Build... I'll get to work on making some new attack names after this, then," Sento said, getting up to get more materials to finally finish the Hawkgatlinger.

"I think I got a couple ideas!" Mina said.

"We're brainstorming names? I'll help too!" Eijiro said, as the teens started to clamor together to come up with some new names for Sento to use.

The next morning, Sento looked at the list of names and suggestions that the teens had made on the glass board. He chuckled at some of them, like Eijiro's "Rabbit Riot" and Pony's "Antler Action", but some of them, like Mina's "Burning Birdbot" and Izuku's "Tank Down" sounded pretty good.

"So are we finally gonna do something about Nabeshima?" Ryuga said, coming out of his room. "We can't just keep waiting for anything to come up."

"Be patient, Banjo," Sento said, shaking his head. "I've been doing this for months now, and if I've learned anything, it's that there's no point in trying to rush things without thinking."

Ryuga scoffed, before he plopped himself on the couch. "Yea, well I've been in jail for months, too, so excuse me for not being patient about clearing my name."

While Sento was a little annoyed, he did admit to himself that Ryuga had a point about being in jail for months for a murder that he didn't commit. "I know, but we still don't have many leads. Though I guess considering his connection to Katsuragi, I guess it won't hurt asking Mr. Himuro about him..."

He picked up his overcoat from his chair. "I'll be back after work, don't get into any trouble, alright?"

"Oh please, what trouble can I get into when I'm stuck here as a fugitive?" Ryuga said flippantly, before being yanked.

"Detroit Smassssssh!" Izuku yelled, as he punched the air. He grimaced as the bones in his right arm broke once again. For his One for All training, he and All Might have been using All Might's personal gym at Might Tower, since he'd be drawing too much attention at the beach, and All Might's personal gym provided the necessary privacy and endurance needed to handle One for All's blows. He clutched his bruised and battered arm, and muttered, "Dang it, not again..."

All Might and Recovery Girl stood at the side, observing his progress. Recovery Girl shook her head, and walked over to heal Izuku's arm. "Really now, boy, you need to take care of yourself more. Just because I'm around doesn't mean you can keep destroying yourself like this. And you-" she added, turning to All Might, "- you need to do a better job of giving advice to your young ward. Heaven knows what he'll do without it."

"Of course, Recovery Girl," All Might said, sighing. "I still have a lot to learn about being a teacher..."

"No, it's not your fault, All Might," Izuku said, as he began to bend his newly healed fingers. "I'm just not nearly compatible with One for All, even with my Hazard Level. I just... I just need to keep trying, right?"

"Of course, my boy," All Might said, putting his hand on Izuku's shoulder (the one that didn't get shattered, of course). "But for now, let's end today's morning training, alright? You need to take it easy after that healing session."

Izuku nodded, and went to grab his bag. As chaotic as this week has been, he hoped that something good would come out of today. It's bad enough that he hasn't been making any progress with his training with One for All, and the fact that they haven't found anything about the organization was just as bad.

"Nabeshima? Not familiar with anyone with that name," Gentoku said, as he and Sento walked on the observation deck above the Pandora Box room.

"So Mr. Katsuragi never mentioned that name to you?" Sento asked. Gentoku raised an eyebrow at the scientist.

"Katsuragi? Hm... Not that I remember. Might've at one point. Why are you asking about Katsuragi?"

"Well... I'm just curious about him. One of my colleagues mentioned him before, and I wanted to know more about him outside of his work on the Pandora Box Observation and Testing Team," Sento said, half-truthfully. "And I thought I might've seen the name Nabeshima concerning him before, but I must've misread something."

"Hm... Well, the man was of course a genius by every sense of the word. He had earned his place as the head of observation and testing team, and helped usher in some major achievements with the research. But among his colleagues, he earned a nickname. 'The Devil Scientist'."

"'The Devil Scientist'? For what?"

"Human experimentation," Gentoku said bluntly, much to Sento's surprise. "At least, the mere suggestion for it. Less than half a year before his murder, he had gone to the board and pitched the idea of using the Nebula Gas emitted from the Skywall, and wanted to see the effects it had on human exposure, especially in regards to Quirk development. Naturally, the board was opposed to this, and immediately expunged Katsuragi from his position. I managed to at least convince the board to keep the reason for his dismissal under wraps in respect for his work, though a few outside the board had found out, hence the nickname. The last I heard of him before his death was that he was working as an independent scientist."

"I see... Why are you telling me this?"

"As I see it, since you're curious about Katsuragi, you'll come across those colleagues who had little fondness for him in the first place. I figure that you should get the clear truth rather than a foggy one," Gentoku said, stroking his goatee in thought. "Besides, I consider his achievements concerning the Pandora Box to have more weight than a mere malicious suggestion. Not to mention that I feel like that with you on the project, you'll provide as much, if not more, valuable contributions to our research."

Sento scratched his head. Gentoku had a point, considering that many of the papers that they currently had on the Pandora Box were based on Katsuragi's observations and theories. But on the other hand, his ideas about human experimentation and Nebula Gas... could it be?

"I appreciate the truthfulness, Mr. Himuro," Sento said, nodding his head. "I'll be back to work now."

Ryuga grumbled as he struggled against the chains binding to the pillar. "Come on, why do you guys keep doing this to me!?"

"To keep you from doing anything dumb, of course," Misora said, scrolling through her phone. The door to the lair opened, and Izuku, Eijiro, Mina, and Pony came down the stairs.

"We're back," Izuku said, rubbing his sore right arm, which was still sore from today's morning training. "So any news about Nabeshima?"

"Actually, yes," Misora said, smugly smiling.

"What!?" Ryuga said, struggling even more.

"I just got these tips right before you four came in. According to the tip, he apparently worked at Nanba Heavy Industries Ltd. until a year ago. Oh, we even got a cell number!" Misora said.

"Man, your fans are something else!" Ryuga replied.

"Compliments are not getting you unchained, Banjo. Besides, it's time for my afternoon nap," Misora said, stretching and yawning a bit.

"What!? Hey, hey! Aren't we going to contact Nabeshima!?" Ryuga said.

"Yea, it seems like a perfect opportunity to," Mina added.

"I mean, we should wait for Mr. Kiryu to come back and discuss what we need to do," Izuku said.

"Yea, he'd probably come up with something!" Pony added, shrugging.

"Sure, that works," Misora muttered, opening her door. "Plus, not obligated to help right now, since I haven't been paid yet."

Ryuga scowled. More waiting. More and more waiting. He couldn't stand it. He took one deep breath, and began flexing his muscles once more as he struggled. This time, the chains began to creak, and finally broke from the tension of his flexing. The others looked at him in surprise, and he walked over to Misora and grabbed her phone.

"Then I'll call him!" he said, dialing Nabeshima's number. He held the phone to his ear, and to his relief, someone picked up.

"Is this Nabeshima?" he said, as the others watched him from a distance.

"... Who is this? How did you get this number?"

"Does the name 'Banjo Ryuga' ring any bells?" Ryuga said, his left hand clutched to the point that if it were any harder, his hand would bleed. Izuku and the others looked at each other, their shoulders tensed and their breath shallow. This was it, their lead. "Where are you!? You need to prove my innocence right now!"

"... I can't..."

"What?" Ryuga muttered, his brows furrowed as he began grinding his teeth.

"They'll hurt my wife and daughter... Faust would kill them."

"'Faust'?" Ryuga said, confusedly.

"The organization responsible for the experiments they've done to you."

"So that's what they're called..."

The grins on the faces of Izuku and the others grew gigantic. Finally, a name that they could use for the organization. Granted, it wasn't much to go on for the moment, but it was a start. They celebrated silently, Izuku grabbing his journal to finally add in Faust to his notes, Eijiro pumped his fists in victory, and Mina and Pony cheer quietly. Only Misora seemed uneasy with the revelation of the organization's name, as she looked away to the ground and clutched her left arm with her right hand, though the others didn't notice her.

"So you'll testify if I save your family? Where are they?" Ryuga said, making everyone freeze in the room.

"In Seito... district 6."

"Seito, district 6... I'll do it, just remember to testify for my innocence when I do!" Ryuga said, hanging up. He turned around, and saw Misora and the others staring at him.

"Mr. Banjo, that doesn't seem like a smart idea," Mina said, biting her lip. "I mean, what if it's a trap!?"

"Ashido's right," Izuku said, though reluctantly. "I mean, we should really wait for Mr. Kiryu to come and we can come up with a plan-"

"Hell no!" Ryuga said, interrupting Izuku. "I'm done waiting! It's time we start doing something, and if you're all aren't gonna help me-"

He looked around, and saw the chains he had broken through laying on the ground. He grabbed them, and started to walk to the others.

"Then I'll just do it myself!"

"Not if I can help it!" Eijiro said, trying to activate his Quirk. However, nothing happened. "Dang it, I guess I still need time..."

The other teens just sighed, but were suddenly jolted into quick shrieks as Ryuga pulled them together.

"Is that enough for you?"

The middle-aged horned man turned around, looking at Night Rogue and Meta Bolt. "Now let my family and I go!"

Meta Bolt laughed harshly, and approached Nabeshima, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, but there's just one more thing we need to take care of."

"But you promised! I've done your dirty work long enough!" Nabeshima said, as he pulled away from Meta Bolt. Night Rogue quickly stepped towards him though and restrained him.

"And that's just it. You are done. But the thing is, we can't let people just leave Faust when they want to," he said, shaking his head. "So we have to... take care of a loose end."

Nabeshima's eyes widened, but before he could attempt to escape, Meta Bolt took his Transteam Gun, and spread a cloud of gas around them. When it cleared up, there was no one left to be seen.

"I'm back," Sento said, as he walked down the stairs to the Build Shop. When he looked into the workshop, he froze, and saw Izuku, Misora, Pony, Mina, and Eijiro all chained up to one of the pillars instead of Ryuga. He rushed to unchain the five as fast as he could. "What happened?"

"Well, we finally got a hold of Nabeshima!" Mina said, trying to salvage something out of this situation. "Turns out that the organization he's been working for is called Faust!"

"Yeah, and he told Banjo that he'll testify for him if he saved his family in Seito!" Pony added. "And when we tried to stop him, he just chained us all up."

"Gah, this is so frustrating! I might've been able to stop if my Quirk was working," Eijiro muttered, as the chains fell off of them. He slammed his fist against the pillar behind him, and much to everyone's surprise, dented it. They took a good look at his hand, which had hardened incredibly, to the point that the edges on his arms were razor sharp, seemingly much more than before, as Eijiro stared at his hand with wonderment.

"It looks like it's back for you!" Izuku said, as Mina and Pony tried theirs. Mina dripped some acid from her fingers, which ate away at the floor quickly, while Pony's horn flew around the room, and as her horns grew back, they noticed that they were differently shaped than before.

"Amazing! My horns are so much better now!" Pony said, hopping up and down. "I was just thinking of how to change their shape, and they just did!"

"And my acid's a lot stronger than before!" Mina said, though a little more apprehensively. "Which might make it harder to apprehend villains without hurting them, actually..."

"That's nice, but let's get back on track," Sento said, crossing his arms. "And avoid causing more damage to the Build Shop. So, where is Banjo going? I don't think he'd be able to get anywhere without connections."

"Actually, about that," Misora muttered, stretching her arms after being freed. "He took my phone, so we can track him down through that. And it has Sawa's number, so she might be helping him."

"Really? You think Ms. Sawa would be helping him out?" Izuku asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's a bit crazy, don't you think?"

Sawa stood around the harbor, looking around to see if anyone was nearby. It was crazy, Ryuga had texted her over an hour ago, asking her how to get to district 6 in Seito. Luckily for her, using her underground freelance reporter connections, she found a boat that would take them directly to district 6's pier. However, Banjo was getting late, and the boat operator was getting impatient.

"So when this second passenger coming?" the boat operator grumbled, as he looked at his watch. Sawa sweated for a moment, trying to find her words. "Well, you see, they, um..."

"I'm here!" a voice said, trying to sound as if it were old. Sawa turned, and saw Ryuga coming towards her, pretending to be an elderly woman hobbling over with a cane. He was wearing an old flowery shirt, a knitted shawl, and jeans.

"Grandma, I knew you'd make it!" Sawa said, walking over to pretend to hug him. Ryuga stared at her before standing upright, grimacing as if she offended. "Grandma? I'm supposed to be a grandpa!"

"Really? With those clothes?" she asked, before shaking her head. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I got a boat for us to use, so we should hurry and-"

"Unauthorized personnel detected, step out of premises or be removed with force."

The two looked around, and a troop of Guardians approached them. Sawa jumped out of the way, making her way to hide behind some barrels as one of the Guardians rushed towards them, only to be punched by Ryuga who intercepted it.

"Threat detected, preparing for subjugation."

"Like hell that'll happen!" Ryuga said. He dug through his pockets, and pulled out the Dragon Fullbottle he was carrying, but before he could twist it cap, more Guardians started to attack him, but he dodged their punches. With his grasp tightened around the Dragon Fullbottle, he struck one of the Guardians in its abdomen area, causing a small blue shockwave to ripple from his fist.

"Huh... so that's what Kasumi's Fullbottle does," Ryuga muttered, marveled at the power he now had. "Well, let's make use of it!"

Before he twist the cap open again, the Guardians had recuperated, and were surrounding him, guns pointed. "Uh oh..."

As Ryuga braced himself for the inevitable storm of bullets, a storm of bullets came from behind him, hitting the Guardians, which gave him an opening to escape into an empty warehouse and behind some barrels, joining Sawa. Seconds later, to their surprise, Sento ducked behind the barrels too, holding the gun he had been working on. "What are you doing here?" Ryuga hissed.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Sento snapped back. "I told you to not do anything stupid, and look what you're doing right now!"

"Well no one's doing anything else but just waiting for more Smash attacks and not solving the problem at its core!"

"Oh like you care! All you want is to clear your name and-"

"Because how can I help other people when I'm stuck in a room!?" Ryuga muttered, silencing Sento. "It's not all about me, you jerk! I want to go back to hero work, to being a boxer, to being a person that Kasumi could be proud of! But I can't do anything when I'm a fugitive!"

The three sat in silence, as Sento put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I'm sorry, I didn't really consider that. But you know, I think you're going at this the wrong way."

"Huh?" Ryuga said, furrowing his brow.

"You shouldn't just think about being a person that your girlfriend could be proud of. Be a person that you yourself could be proud of," he answered. "Since I don't have memories and all, I hope that I was a person that would help people in need, and I'm working towards that, you know? Save them when they need it? And when they're happy, well, that puts a smile on my face. Not that you can see it, of course, I'm a wearing a helmet and all."

"Point is, if you're serious about helping people, don't do it out of some misguided attempt to be a person that you think others want you to be. Do it because it's what you want to be," Sento finished. He looked to the side to see the Guardians searching the room with their lights on the rifle, before looking back. "Alright, I'll distract the Guardians, you two go onto that boat and save Nabeshima's family."

"Really?" Sawa asked.

"Well, we're this far in now, might as well go all the way. Besides, if his family's in trouble, we gotta help them, right?" Sento said, as he slapped on his Build Driver onto his waist. He took out the Hawk and Gatling Fullbottles, shaking and inserting them. "Hawk! Gatling! Best Match!" "Now go!"

He sprung up from the barrel, firing the Hawkgatlinger to get the Guardians' attention. He cranked the Build Driver's handle as fast as he could, as runners formed around him, protecting from the Guardians' barrage of bullets. In front was the orange Hawk Halfbody, and behind him was the gunmetal gray Gatling Halfbody.

"Are you ready!?"

"Transform!"

The two Halfbodies slammed together onto Sento, creating his orange-and-gunmetal gray form. His left eye was of a orange hawk swooping in, and his right eye was a gray gatling gun barrel. Orange wings sprouted out of his back, as the Build Driver announced, "The Rampage in the Skies! HawkGatling! Yeahhh!"

Build led the Guardians out of the warehouse, letting Sawa and Ryuga escape the other way. They found their way back to the boat, where the operator had been ducking out of sight.

"We need to go like, right now, sir!" Sawa said, as she stepped onto the boat, but the operator stopped her.

"Are you kidding? You just led a handful of Guardians here! Not only that, your second passenger is a wanted criminal! I can't risk this trip. Go find some other way to get into Seito," he said, trying to shoo her away.

"But we need to-"

"I said-"

"We'll do it."

The three turned around, and saw a young woman walking towards them with her young son. Sawa recognized her from earlier that day as the Smash victim that Sento had saved. "Hey, you're-!"

"Sorry about that, he gets a little worried about doing this sort of thing, even though we technically do have a license to cross territories for small cargo. My family's the one that owns this boat," the woman said, smiling and sticking her hand out to shake her hand. "I think helping out the people acquainted with my hero deserve some help, don't you?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boat operator muttered, as he went back to start the boat again. Ryuga sat down on the deck, deep in thought about what Sento said earlier.

"Be a person that I could be proud of," he muttered, as the boat moved towards one of the small openings in the Skywall's red glow. "Have I really not been someone like that? I mean, everything I've done for the longest time had been for Kasumi... God, it's so easy for him to say something like that, he's got no memory about who he was..."

"That's true," Sawa replied, as she watched Kouta and his mother play a game. "But I think he's on to something, you know? Can't really be the hero you want to be if you're not happy with yourself."

"As if I can be right now," Ryuga said, shaking his head. "With everything that's been happening, I can't really afford to be the person I'm happy to be. But once I save Nabeshima's family, maybe... Maybe I'll figure it out again."

Sawa shrugged, figuring that this was at least a step in the right direction, especially since Sento's words were definitely reaching him. Plus, they were on the road to getting Ryuga's innocence proven, so once that's out of the way, he can probably become a better hero than he had been before.

Build fired the Hawkgatlinger at the Guardian troops that had been streaming in. They were growing less in number, but there was still quite a substantial amount of them firing their rifles at him.

"Alright, I think we can thin this crowd out a lot more!" he said to himself. He took off to the sky, and began to spin the Hawkgatlinger's drum. "10! 20! 30! 40! 50!"

Clear energy spherical graphs surrounded individual Guardians on the ground, which followed them no matter how they moved. "60! 70! 70! 80! 90! 100! Full Bullet!"

Build pointed the Hawkgatlinger towards the ground, and pulled the trigger. "Take this! Hawk Hurricane!"

Hawk-shaped energy bullets flew out of the Hawkgatlinger's barrels, flying towards all the Guardians on the ground, shredding each and every single one. The amount of damages that the Guardians attained caused them blow up, and as Build landed on the ground amidst the explosions, thinking to himself about thanking Mina for the attack name, was immediately tackled by something decidedly not a Guardian. He turned up to face what had hit him, and saw a brute of a Smash standing over him. It was larger than the Strong Smash, with its body covered in thick metal-like plating. Its hands were comprised of three thick, stubby pipe-like fingers, with port holes on its shoulders that expelled steam. Its head resembled a rhinoceros, though its eyes were more like a mechanical chameleon's, moving all around to scan its surroundings.

Build flew up above the Smash, and despite it having crashed right in him, it was too slow to catch up to him, and clambered after him. He pointed the Hawkgatlinger at the Smash, firing bullet after bullet into its face. It shrugged off the shots, and attempted to chase after Build.

"Boy, you're pretty resilient!" he muttered. The Smash roared, and to Build's surprise, its horns flew off its face like Pony's, and crashed right into his abdomen, knocking out of the air. "Oooooh, that sucked. I guess you're the... Horn Smash? Ugh, whatever the case is, I guess the Hawkgatlinger's not gonna get through that tough armor of yours, huh? Man, and I just finished this, too..."

He got up, and dusted himself off, before pulling out the Deer and Pyramid Fullbottles, shaking them and inserting them into the Build Driver. "Oh well, I wanted to see how this Best Match worked out, too!"

"Deer! Pyramid! Best Match!"

Runners came out of the Build Driver, the rear runner forming into the golden tan Pyramid Halfbody, and the front runner forming into the cobalt blue Deer Halfbody. "Are you ready?"

"Transform!"

The orange and gunmetal gray armor of HawkGatling was replaced by cobalt blue and golden tan. Build's left shoulder armor was shaped like two pyramids combined into a diamond, and his forearm armor was adorned with three pyramid-like spikes. The armor on the right side of his chest resembled a deer's face, with one protruding horn branching over his right shoulder. His right eye resembled a pyramid, and his left resembled a deer head, with its antler protruding to form an antennae. "The Royal Family Guardian! Deeramid! Yeahhh!"

"I've got the winning formula!" Build said triumphantly, doing his signature antennae flick with his left hand. The Horn Smash charged at him, and he raised his left hand, forming a triangular energy shield that it ran into.

"The shield generation's much stronger, though I can still only make one. I suppose the same is true for the laser drone," he observed, as the Horn Smash punched the shield repeatedly. To his surprise, the shield shattered, and the Horn Smash charged at him again, forcing him to sidestep out of the way. "That broke in fewer hits than usual. I guess you're just that tough, huh?"

Build moved his left hand again, this time forming a small floating energy pyramid. He pointed it towards the Horn Smash, and as it flew towards the Smash it fired a laser. The Horn Smash smacked the laser away, but to Build's surprise, the laser bent and branched out multiple times like a deer's antler, hitting the Horn Smash square in the back in multiple spots.

"Branching lasers? Very useful, though it seems each branch gets smaller," he mused, as his energy pyramid continued to fire branching laser after branching laser at the Horn Smash, which didn't know how to block them, as smacking one away with its armored hands would only allow a different branch of the laser to hit it from behind. With the constant barrage of powerful laser blasts, its once near-impenetrable armor was softening from the heat.

"It's all over for you!" Build exclaimed, as he cranked the Build Driver's handle. "Ready? Go! Vortex Finish!"

"Deer Destruction!" he cried out, as multiple energy pyramids formed around the Horn Smash. Each one fired a laser, which all branched out and struck the Horn Smash. With each one hitting it at once, the Horn Smash couldn't take it, and with one final scream, exploded, knocking it down.

Build took an Empty Bottle out, and extracted the Horn Smash's essence. As the glow faded away, Build was shocked to see just who the Smash was. "Nabeshima!? Well, that would explain the Horn Smash's look, whatnot with the horn and all... But still, why?"

As Build pondered to himself, he heard a metal container falling somewhere around him. On alert, he scanned his surroundings, trying to keep an eye on Nabeshima at the same time. When several minutes passed, he decided that it was probably something knocked over during the fight, and deactivated his transformation. Unfortunately, this proved to be a poor decision, as a small needle struck him in the back. He wobbled back and forth, sweat dripping off his forehead.

"The hell...? Crap, that must've been poisoned," Sento thought, collapsing to the ground. His sight became unfocused, though he could still see a strange creature that slithered and grabbed Nabeshima with its mouth. Sento tried to turn his head to see where the creature was going, and saw a man dressed in a red leather suit, with gunmetal piping adorning his armor. A green cobra insignia rested on his chest.

As he succumbed to the poison that was now no doubt coursing through his entire body, Sento managed to utter his last conscious observation.

"The... the cobra man..."

ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:
- 'ey it's about time I updated right? Sorry, a lot of real life things got in the way (some good, quite a bit of bad), and it's threw off my groove by... by a lot, really. And honestly? I think from here on out, the updates are going to be sparse. That's my own fault, real life and all that. I'm also watching Zero-One right now, and trying to rewatch Build at the same time kinda tires me out.
- If anyone's wondering how this is timeline wise, I'd say that for the most part it's been three days since Ryuga and the others joined Team Build as of this chapter, and that it would be on Thursday-Friday, if I'm right, since the last mentioned day was Sunday, when Izuku tested the Smartphone Fullbottle, and Tuesday would be when Ryuga shows up since that happens two days later. Eventful week they're having, huh? It'll also be like, afternoonish at the beginning to let the younger members of Team Build to be present.
- I know, I know, right now this is really focused on the Build side of the crossover. I'm bothered by it too, but I've been kinda stuck on this for a while now, because well, it is mostly going to be about the Build cast being in the MHA setting. Don't worry, the MHA characters will get bigger roles later on.
- I'm gonna start taking more liberties with character direction and dialogue and the like now. Mostly because I want to avoid a 1-for-1 retread of the plots (plus again, kiiiinda gets tiring rewatching Build and rereading MHA), and with Ryuga having been a sidekick before, I feel like he'd have a heroic sense, but it'll still be a while before he fully comes around. I'll still use important lines and plot points, of course, but now I'm gonna do my best to do more unexpected things.